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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rosenthal: Get Set For Super ‘Pen as Jays Sign Francisco Cordero

Laboy now has company north of the border!

Taking time out from writing about Prince Fielder and money for the umpteenth time this winter to pass you along this news: Kenny Ken Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports tweets that the Jays have themselves a new setup man, ex-Reds closer Francisco Cordero.

The deal is for just one year—no option, apparently—and $4.5-million. It’s the same amount they could have paid Jon Rauch, had they picked up his option, only in Cordero it nets them a pitcher who still throws in the mid-90s (OK, he averaged 93 on his four-seamer in 2011), and… well… actually pre-2011 Rauch had some better things going for him: better ERA over the previous two years, better FIP, better fWAR, better walk rates.

But Cordero can miss more bats, will produce a lot more ground balls, and has a lot more depth behind him—Darren Oliver, Jason Frasor, Casey Janssen—to pick up the slack. And, of course, Sergio Santos, to close out ballgames.

Repoz Posted: January 24, 2012 at 06:29 PM | 11 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: blue jays, business

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1. Greg (U)K Posted: January 24, 2012 at 07:55 PM (#4044922)

Wow. I wouldn't really say it filled a need, I was cool with the pen as was. But that seems cheap.

EGADS, just looked at his line from 2011. That is a frightening K rate.

2. Good cripple hitter Posted: January 24, 2012 at 08:07 PM (#4044936)

that seems cheap.

Maybe they got a discount from Bean Stringfellow because Stringfellow represents both Bautista and Cordero. Given the choice, I'd rather have Cordero than Rauch, and it's not particularly close, even with Cordero's cratering K rate.

That being said, this offseason's really been odd. The Jays could have used upgrades at DH, 3B, LF, or SP, and instead they've completely revamped the entire bullpen. I remember when the Star ran an article about how the Jays could've been in the playoff hunt if the bullpen had blown around 3/4 less of the total save opportunities, but I honestly didn't expect the team to spend most, if not all of their offseason budget on relievers. It's so... Ed Wade-y.

3. Greg (U)K Posted: January 24, 2012 at 08:30 PM (#4044963)

Yeah all in all a bit of a let down. I was sure AA had some trick up his sleeve...though perhaps he thought Darvish would be his big play.

I think you mean upgrade at 2B right? I'm ok with Lawrie at 3B.
Kelly Johnson I can live with, hoping you can cobble 2 decent corner outfielders out of Francisco/Snider/Thames seems...optimistic (he said diplomatically)
But the real missed opportunity has to be the rotation right?

Romero is a fine arm to have #1
Henderson Alvarez I like, but by no means is he a sure thing.
Brandon Morrow at least has the potential to break out.
After that it gets a bit dicier.

EDIT: Has there been any indication on what they're doing with Carreno? Was the bullpen thing last September just a way to get him some innings or is that a permenant shift they're making?

4. Good cripple hitter Posted: January 24, 2012 at 09:42 PM (#4045033)

I think you mean upgrade at 2B right? I'm ok with Lawrie at 3B.

Whoops. I meant to type 1B, although I would've been somewhat surprised if the team had jettisoned Lind. I also think that Lawrie deserves another shot to show what he can do at 3B. I was pleasantly surprised with Johnson accepting arbitration, I don't have a problem with him playing 2B this year.

I agree with the rotation being a missed opportunity, but I'm really used to the team somehow cobbling together league average innings so I'm not overly fixated on it, I just wish that they'd upgraded anything other than the bullpen.

There's a quote from Farrell where he said that Carreno pitched well in the bullpen, but there's a long list of pitchers who successfully transitioned from the pen to the rotation, so I'd guess that it was just a way to get him some innings.

5. Dock Ellis on Acid

Posted: January 25, 2012 at 12:35 AM (#4045176)

As long as we are talking about super pens, Koji Uehara reportedly rejected a trade to the Blue Jays. It's not clear if this happened before or after Cordero signed.

6. Enrico Pallazzo Posted: January 25, 2012 at 10:25 AM (#4045329)

I love the idea of a Lind/Edwin platoon at DH/1B with a real first baseman on the club. It's time the fans and org realize that Lind isn't all that good as a full-time option and that the best thing would be to leverage the platoon splits. Too bad they didn't want to make a play for Prince, but they weren't going to top that Tigers deal anyway and that's understandable.

7. Harveys Wallbangers

Posted: January 25, 2012 at 10:37 AM (#4045340)

Greg

What's missed by many is that Coco got REALLY lucky last season. Line drives and long fly balls getting caught.

He's done. I thought he was done in 2008 but he managed to get batters to chase the slider after repeatedly throwing a first pitch fastball for strikes. His pattern seemed obvious to me but I guess because of the limited exposure of a closer it took a while for hitters to understand that Coco would slip a fastball by on the first pitch and then it was slider, slider, slider with a change up every so often.

Since he has never had really good control the slider was more often in the dirt than a threat to be a strike. Hitters wised up.

He might get by for a few months because of the AL hitters not knowing his stuff. My guess is that by early next year he's getting shelled.

8. Rants Mulliniks (formerly Cold Prosimian) Posted: January 25, 2012 at 10:39 AM (#4045343)

I love the idea of a Lind/Edwin platoon at DH/1B with a real first baseman on the club. It's time the fans and org realize that Lind isn't all that good as a full-time option and that the best thing would be to leverage the platoon splits. Too bad they didn't want to make a play for Prince, but they weren't going to top that Tigers deal anyway and that's understandable.

I could go for that. I almost wish Lind hadn't had his 2009.

I think Lawrie will be their second-best player this year, I have no concerns about him at all.

9. cooper7d7 Posted: January 25, 2012 at 10:43 AM (#4045350)

and has a lot more depth behind him—Darren Oliver, Jason Frasor, Casey Janssen—to pick up the slack.

Did these guys threaten to quit of Rauch was resigned?

10. Steve Parris, Je t'aime Posted: January 25, 2012 at 10:51 AM (#4045361)

Cordero was able to cheat Father Time last year by generally keeping the ball down and starting to throw a curve ball. He got a lot more groundballs to partially compensate for the declining K-rate, but I concur that he was lucky.

11. Harveys Wallbangers

Posted: January 25, 2012 at 10:56 AM (#4045369)

The Reds were wise to let him go. They had a legit option and it appears that Dusty lost faith in him at some point anyway.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Rosenthal: Get Set For Super ‘Pen as Jays Sign Francisco Cordero

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